Boonie Stomping: Pagat Caves (Sort of)

On Saturday we went hiking, or as the Guam locals call it, boonie stomping. The hike was tough, but not too bad. It was probably somewhere between 1 and 2 miles, but it was pretty steep and half of it was climbing over a lot of jagged volcanic rocks. A few locals we've met mentioned this hike to Marble (Pagat) Cave and said that it was really awesome. It has a freshwater swimming hole with cold water inside. The pictures online made it look pretty neat. So, we did the hike with high hopes of discovering the beautiful cave and pool inside. Drenched in sweat, we reached the cave with exhausted muscles (I'm out of shape and totally not used to this level of humidity.) I don't know what I was expecting, but whatever it was, that is not what I found. The cave was a big, dark, scary, rocky hole in the ground. I was NOT about to climb down there. Not even for a refreshing swim in ice cold water. NO WAY. It was dark and creepy looking. I told Scott I'd wait for him at the mouth of the cave. I'm a chicken...my daredevil days died when I graduated high school. I think he was disappointed, but he didn't go in without me. For me, hiking is all about the journey. I hike slowly. I enjoy looking around and taking pictures of things as I go. I look at the flowers, the rocks, the little lizards that keep darting across my path. I get fascinated by the smallest things. I'm probably pretty infuriating to hike with actually. For Scott, the hike is all about the destination. He hikes fast, he wants to get there...to the whole point of the hike. We are opposites in many, many ways.

Anyway, luckily for both of us, the trail kept going and eventually led to the coast. We had some spectacular views of the ocean off the rocky volcanic cliffs. It was worth the hike.
This was actually the second hike I've taken with Scott that led to a cave I refused to enter. Hopefully now he has learned his lesson. Most likely, I'm not crawling into scary black holes in the earth. Take another boy.This is what your pictures look like when you are in 90% humidity and your camera lens fogs up.This was the drive to the trail head. The roads here look like they are going to be reclaimed by the dense jungle at any moment.
Yay! We found it.
The easy part of the hike.
Look, red dirt! Just like at home!See what I mean about being easily distracted? These tiny vines covered everything. I couldn't stop looking at them.
Why hello there?! You are a very scary looking spider.
The not so easy part of the hike.You want me to go in where? Yha...I don't think so.The scary looking cave entrance.
Continuing on through the super thick jungle.The hole in the jungle we emerged from to spectacular ocean views.Oh, and while watching the ocean from these cliffs, I saw a SHARK in the water. A SHARK people. He was just having a good ol' time swimmin' around looking for something to eat. Something like ME. I have irrational fears of sharks...they scare me to death. Thank goodness I was on land!!
The views of the ocean were beautiful. Its not often I get to stand on the shore, breathing in the scent of sea and salt and listening to the waves crash on the rocks. I love it!